FAIRFIELD (CT)
Daily Voice
January 25, 2019
By Zak Failla
Fairfield University and four other religious and charitable organizations have reached a $60 million settlement regarding alleged sexual abuse from a graduate.
In a statement released on Friday, the university announced that it has “agreed to a second and concluding legal settlement with a group of individuals who came forward with allegations that they were sexually abused in Haiti in the late 1990s and early 2000s by Douglas Perlitz, a Fairfield University alumnus.
The lawsuit was brought on behalf of Haitian minors by Mitchell Garabedian, a Boston-based lawyer, who has made a name for himself representing hundreds of clergy sexual assault victims.
According to Fairfield University, the announcement relates to Project Pierre Toussaint, a charity that was established in 1997 by Perlitz, designed to support underprivileged boys in Haiti. The multi-phase program fed, clothed, provided shelter and educated the young boys. In 2008, Perlitz was found to have been “grossly abusing his position, sexually assaulting some of the young men in his car.”
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